Method of making a protective and/or decorative coating and the coating made by this method

ABSTRACT

In this method of making a protective and/or decorative coating and the coating material thus made, the material preferably comprises a base plate (10) made of a synthetic polymer and a coloured layer (11) deposited on one of its surfaces which may be made of synthetic inks or replaced by natural timber. It preferably has a hard, abrasion resistant coating (13) on the front face and a protective coating (12) at the back face.

The present invention relates to a method of manufacturing a protectiveand/or decorative surfacing material adapted to be applied to anysurface of an object, e.g. an element of furniture.

This invention relates also to a protective and/or decorative surfacingmaterial manufactured by said method.

In recent times many attempts have been made to use synthetic materialsin various forms to provide either decorative or protective coatings tovarious articles, such as articles of furniture for private orprofessional use.

Synthetic polymer materials have been commercially available in sheetform for approximately 40 years. These sheets are available in a varietyof sizes and thicknesses and as well in a variety of forms and aspects.They may be sometimes transparent or translucent and sometimes colored.Such products are available from a number of manufacturers and aremarketed under different names. "Hesalite" as manufactured by Bally CTUin Switzerland is a typical example, as well as transparent sheetsmarketed under the name "Plexiglas" and manufactured by Rohm GmbH inSwitzerland too. Such products can be used to form decorative and/orprotective surfaces either alone or in combination with other similar ordifferent products.

The use of synthetic polymer sheeting to form protective and/ordecorative surfaces or coatings has not been extensive in the past. Suchcoatings have not been found particularly effective in the practice forsurface protection and there has therefore been only limited use of thisproduct in this field.

Recently a number of manufacturers of synthetic polymers have introducedacylic sheeting with an additional abrasion resistant surface added tothe material. The product marketed under the name "Plexiglas XT 230" andmanufactured by Rohm GmbH in Germany is a typical example.

Synthetic surfacing materials which are supposed to offer bothprotection and coloration have been known for a number of years andcomprise high pressure synthetic laminates, such as "Formica" and"Arborite" currently marketed world-wide. Additionally a productmanufactured and marketed in the U.S.A. under the name of "Vitricor"comprises a sheet of transparent acrylic material, the back surface ofwhich is covered by a layer of acrylic paint. Such materials are usedgenerally in the form of plane sheets or plates. A process formanufacturing such a product is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,293,603.

In spite of a variety of products existing nowadays, none of them hasbrought a satisfying answer to the problem of providing a surfacecoating which is both protective and decorative. None of these materialshas been effective in producing both a decorative coating with adesirable apparent depth of colour which would provide sufficientprotection to surfaces and which could be adapted to every shape ofsurface, and specifically to relatively small radius curved edges or 90degree return edges. The known materials do not have both basicproperties of (i) resistance to abrasion, and (ii) capability ofconformation to all surfaces of whatever shape.

The prior art has made use of acrylic enamels or lacquers to colour coatthe base plates on the assumption that these coatings would becompatible with and also would bond to said plates. It has not come upto these expectations and the manufacturers have encountered seriousproblem of adhesiveness, the colour coat tending to separate from thebase plate.

In an attempt for solving this problem, the prior art has made use of aprimer paint applied to the back of the colour layer to improve the bondbetween this layer and the material of the base plate. However alladhesion problems have not been solved for all that.

Finally the prior art materials were restricted in use as large flatsheets adapted to form coatings on planar surfaces or curved surfaceshaving a large curvature radius.

The prior art while offering materials with different hardness gradeswas restricted to use as flat or large radius curved ,coatings by thefact that the plates or sheets are not successfully thermofrmable

With regard to the manufacturing process, the prior art products havebeen designed for limited production and all the techniques used wereadapted to such a limited production. Finally, the prior art productshave generally a thickness which is limited to a few tenths ofmillimeters, as a rule their thickness does not exceed or hardly exceedabout 1 mm, resulting in an additional drawback in particularapplications.

The principle object of this invention is to alleviate the differentabove-mentioned drawbacks by determining a method of making a surfacingmaterial which is protective, i.e. resistant to abrasion, anddecorative, i.e. having a surface aspect which may be extremely varied.

It is an additional object of this invention to provide a decorative andprotective surface which may be coloured and or patterned to suiteindividual taste.

It is a further object of this invention to provide a protective anddecorative surfacing material which can be formed to all specificcontours so as to provide a versatility of use.

It is a further object of this invention to provide a protective anddecorative surfacing material which can be manufactured with modernautomated technics allowing sufficient quality control so as to providelarge areas of material with identical features.

It is a further object of this invention to provide protective anddecorative surfacing materials which can be attached to other surfacesby a wide variety of conventional methods including but not limited tohot melt glues, vinyl based glues, contact cements, which have beennecessary for adhering the sheet materials of the prior art.

It is a further object of this invention to provide a protective anddecorative surfacing material which in a specifically shaped orcontoured formed is available with an extra abrasion resistant surface.

It is a further object of this invention to provide a protective anddecorative surfacing material in a variety of thickness therebyachieving a variety of appearances and application opportunities.

It is an additional object of this invention to provide a protective anddecorative surfacing material particularly for uses as wall cladding(interior or exterior), bathroom tub and furniture, desk, decorativeplaques and panels, highway sound screens, direction panels or displaystands, corporate identification plates, door cladding, ceilingpaneling, games, jigsaw puzzles, movies screen, box facings and displayunits for jewellery, safe and desposit box facings, etc.

These objects are realized in this invention by a method ofmanufacturing a protective and/or decorative surfacing material adaptedto be applied to any surface of an object, e.g. an element of furniture,characterized in that a sheet of synthetic polymer material is used asbase support, in that said base support is prepared by cleaning, dryingand by stabilizing or neutralizing static electrical charges thereof, inthat a colour coating is applied by depositing on a back surface of thebase support a coloured substance selected from the following materialspolyester or acrylic inks, polyurethane paints, or in that a veener ofnatural wood is bonded to said back surface by means of an acrylicadhesive, in that polymerization is then produced and in that drying iscarried out by means of a hot air stream to evaporate excess solvents.

In a preferred embodiment, the base support is cleaned by one of thefollowing techniques sand blasting, metal bead blasting, high pressureair jet, deglazing, solvent washing.

In a particularly advantageous embodiment, the colour coating is appliedby depositing a coloured substance by one of the following processescolour screening, spraying, roller applicator, brushing, paint jet.

Said coloured substance preferably includes at least one of thefollowing compositions polyester-based or acrylic synthetic inks, dye,resin bonded colour pigments, polyurethane paint.

For providing a surface layer which is particularly hard, an additionalabrasion resistant layer maybe applied on the front surface of thesurfacing material

A protective layer is preferably applied over the colour coating on theback surface of the material.

Preferably, a stage of drying and curing takes place after applicationof the protective layer.

In an advantageous embodiment said heat curing is carried out for aperiod of about 12 to 18 hours.

In another particularly advantageous embodiment, a high density andthermoformable synthetic material including an ultraviolet filteringagent is used as base support, and preferably an appropriate shape ofsaid base support is realised by thermoforming.

The surfacing material according to the invention, manufactured by thismethod, is characterized in that it comprises a base support formed of asheet of synthetic polymer material, a coloured layer of a substanceselected from polyester inks or acrylic inks or a polyurethane paint, ora veneer of natural wood being bonded by means of an acrylic adhesive.

In a preferred embodiment, the surfacing material comprises a frontsurface having a hard, abrasion resistant layer.

Furthermore a particularly advantageous embodiment comprises aprotective layer applied over said coloured layer on a back surface ofthe material.

Said base support may be a sheet of a high density, thermoformablesynthetic material including an ultraviolet filtering agent.

The present invention will be better understood with reference todescription of examples of embodiments and of the appended drawing,wherein:

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a first embodiment of a surfacingmaterial according to this invention,

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of another embodiment of a surfacingmaterial according to this invention, and

FIG. 3A 3B and 3C show three particular forms of a surfacing materialaccording to this invention.

The manufacturing process according to the present invention begins withuse of a raw material in the form of a base plate or sheet beingobtained by casting or extrusion and made of synthetic polymer materialwhich is normally clear and transparent. However one can also use, toobtain certain visual effects, base supports which are coloured or tonedand which have varying degrees of transparency. Additionally,appropriately structured or patterned sheets may be used.

This kind of material is usual and commercially available in the rawsurface conditions or with a pre-applied hardened surface layer. It isavailable in a range of sizes or thickness. For example one suitablestarting material for production of this invention is the productmarketed under the name SUINKOLITE by Mitsubishi Corporation, or theproduct "plexiglas XT 230" marketed by Rohm GmbH.

As mentioned above, a material having a hardened surface is alsoavailable for use. For example, such a material is marketed under thename SUINKOLITE MR. This product being already provided with a hardenedsurface eliminates the requirement for this step during themanufacturing process. The presence of this hardened layer does howeverimpose some limitations and therefore the use of this product issomewhat limited.

In the first stage of the process, the synthetic polymer sheet iscleaned of any residual compounds such as glues, dust, dirt or othercontaminents which may adversely affect the properties of the basesupport or the subsequent steps of the manufacturing process.

The substrata plate is next coated on one side, namely its back side, ora portion thereof, with a colouring compound which may be a syntheticink, e.g. a polyester-based or acrylic ink, a dye or resin bondedpigments, for example polyurethane paints.

The coloured coating layer may be applied in one operation or in asequence of operations permitting to obtain the desired effect. It maybe brushed, roller coated, sprayed by airless gun, air-gun, or airbrush, or screen transferred. Of course, the coloured coating layer maybe uniformly applied or applied sequentially, or with use of masks orpatterns for obtaining different desired effects.

Following the colour application the material passes through a curingand drying stage wherein the excess solvents are removed by evaporation

Upon completion of the colouring stage, a protective coating is appliedby conventional spray, roller, jet or other technique to the backsurface of the material, onto the coloured layer. This coating is alsoselectively pigmented to produce a definitive and identifiable colouredappearance to the back of the product.

The product then passes through a second drying/curing stage similar tothat which followed the colour application process.

The product now proceeds either to finished product inventory or tosurface hardening procedure.

In the case of the product which is to be submitted to a surfacehardening process, a compound of silica maybe deposited onto saidsurface, said compound comprising preferably a colloidal solution ofsilica in a synthetic solvent. Deposition is carried out by conventionalmethods such as spraying or similar. The product is transferred to acuring room where it remains for approximately 12-18 hours at anelevated temperature. After this curing, period resulting in a hardsurface layer which is abrasion-resistant, the material is generallycomplete. However a surface protection may be provided by addition ofpaper or plastic protective sheets to both front or back surfaces of thematerial.

It is worthy of note that the stage of applying the coloured layer maybe replaced by a stage of securing a veneer of natural wood.

In the instances where specific products to be covered by the protectiveor decorative surfacing material have particular forms, the substratamay be shaped by heat application. Heat can be applied from anyappropriate source such as hot air sources, radiant or contact heaters.This shaping stage can take place either before or after the colourprocess.

The described above can be applied to any non-hardened starting materialof the above-defined kind having a thickness varying from 0.5 mm toabout 5 mm. However, in particular applications such a material isavailable in thicknesses up to and including 50 mm.

Referring now to FIG. 1 and 2, the protective and/or decorative coveringobtained by the above-described process comprises a base support 10formed of a sheet of high density polymer synthetic material including afiltration agent for ultraviolet radiation, a paint layer 1 which may bereplaced by a veneer of natural wood, and a protective layer 12 whichforms the back surface of the product. As shown in FIG. 2, the frontsurface may have a hardened surface layer 13.

FIG. 3A, 3B and 3C show covering materials having respectively a curvedrim 20 (FIG. 3A), a rim 30 which is bent at right angle (FIG. 3B) and aU-shaped profile 40 (FIG. 3C).

The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments,but also comprises different modifications and variations being obviousto person skilled in the art.

I claim:
 1. A method of manufacturing a protective decorative surfacinglaminate configured to be applied to any surface of an object comprisingthe steps of:a) providing a sheet of synthetic polymer base support,having front and back faces; b) cleaning and drying the sheet; c) atleast one of stabilizing and neutralizing static electrical charges onthe cleaned and dried sheet; d) applying a coating to the back face ofthe sheet, the coating comprising at least one of polyester ink, acrylicink, dye, resin bonded pigments and polyurethane paint; e) applying aprotective layer over the exposed surface of the coating, the protectivelayer being suitable for attachment to an objection; and f)simultaneously curing and drying the coating and the layer.
 2. Themethod according to claim 1 comprising applying an abrasion resistantlayer on the front face of the sheet.
 3. The method according to claim1, comprising cleaning the sheet by one of sand blasting, metal beadblasting, high pressure air jet, deglazing and solvent washing.
 4. Themethod according to claim 1, comprising applying the coating by one ofcolor screening, spraying, roller application, brushing and paint jet.5. The method according claim 2, comprising heat curing the resistantlayer for a period of about 12 hours to about 18 hours.
 6. The methodaccording to claim 1, wherein the synthetic polymer is a high densityand thermoformable synthetic material including an ultraviolet filteringagent.
 7. The method according claim 1, comprising thermoforming thesheet into a desired shape.
 8. A protective decorative surfacingmaterial, manufactured by a method according to claim 1, comprising abase support formed of a sheet (10) of synthetic polymer material havinga front face and a back face, a layer (11) of at least one of polyesterink, acrylic ink, dye, resin bonded pigment and polyurethane paintapplied to the back face, the layer being covered by a protective layerapplied thereto.
 9. A material according to claim 8, comprising a hard,abrasion resistant layer (13) applied to the front face.
 10. A materialaccording to claim 8, wherein said base support is a sheet of a highdensity, thermoformable synthetic material including an ultravioletfiltering agent.
 11. A method of manufacturing a protective decorativesurfacing laminate configured to be applied to any surface of an objectcomprising the steps of:a) providing a sheet of synthetic polymer basesupport, having front and back faces; b) cleaning, drying the sheet; c)at least one of stabilizing and neutralizing static electrical chargeson the cleaned and dried sheet; d) applying a veneer of natural wood tothe back face of the sheet by means of an acrylic adhesive; e) applyinga protective layer over the exposed surface of the veneer, theprotective layer being suitable for attachment to an object; and f)simultaneously curing and drying the adhesive and layer.
 12. Aprotective decorative surfacing material, manufactured by a methodaccording to claim 11, comprising a base support formed of a sheet (10)of synthetic polymer material having a front face and a back face, aveneer of natural wood applied to the back face, the veneer beingcovered by a protective layer applied thereto.
 13. A material accordingto claim 12, comprising a hard, abrasion resistant layer (13) applied tothe front face.
 14. A material according to claim 12, wherein said basesupport is a sheet of a high density, thermoformable synthetic materialincluding an ultraviolet filtering agent.